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Letters to the Editor

Letters is an open forum for our readers. Letters should be original to Gambit Weekly and be no longer than 400 words. Letters might be edited for length and clarity. Write to Letters, c/o Gambit Weekly, 3923 Bienville St., NOLA, 70119; fax to (504) 483-3116, or send email to response@gambitweekly.com. Include a home address and daytime phone number.

Assigning Blame
Your politics came shining through in your article "Scaling Back" (Sept. 17),
which said that "big cuts for NOLAC came in 1996 when the Newt Gingrich-led Congress
cut LSC funding by one-third." That could not have become law without President
Clinton's signature, could it?

The reason that Congress has become so disenchanted with the Legal Services
Corp. is that it has become a big supporter of radical left-wing causes with
the public's money. NOLAC has suffered because of that. I suggest you do an
article on why the funding was cut, with many legislators wanting to eliminate
LSC.
--Wayne Blankenship Jr.

Not a Good ThingHow could you, in good
conscience, include a feature from Martha Stewart in the Sept. 10 edition of
Gambit Weekly (Home Smart, "Ask Martha")? The next thing you will
run is an article written by Kenneth Lay on "How to Run a Business, for Me!"

Oh, yes, Martha Stewart has not been convicted of anything
as of yet, although her attorney did recently state that she will take the Fifth
in the up-coming congressional hearings. Heck, what am I thinking? We all know
that's not an admission of guilt.

But let's put things into today's perspective -- Martha
sells. And I'm here to tell you, I don't know what I would have done without
her "Shrimp Kebabs with Lemon Wedges and Cilantro" recipe, not to mention her
"Curried Lamb, blah, blah, blah" recipe. The only thing that I would like to
read from Ms. Stewart is her stock market recipe.

Amazing the double standards we're faced with. Take
Pete Rose; what a bad guy he was. He admitted betting his own money on sporting
events. Also, let's remember no bets were wagered on games in which he had any
influence. "Bad Guy Pete," although considered by some as one of the greatest
baseball players who ever played the game, is banned from baseball for life.

Meanwhile, Martha Stewart gets her article published
in Gambit. Thanks again, Martha and Gambit, for the tip on keeping
my "skewers assembled with raw ingredients on ice." I would have never thought
of that.
-- Louie Duet

Lifting the BlackoutMany thanks to the
editors of Gambit for printing A.C. Thompson's "Media Blackout" article
on the annual report from Project Censored (Sept. 10). This is certainly the
most important stuff of our time.

Great power carries with it great responsibility. Unfortunately,
many Americans, politicians, press and citizens have oversimplified their position
of privilege in the world. We must be vigilant, realizing that we are a huge
target with a great deal more to lose than any other. We must bear more responsibility
for our decisions, but very important decisions require better perspective than
what most Americans can easily access in a vastly over-commercialized media
and body politic.
-- Stephen Guerdon Smith

South Louisiana SaviorsAw, shucks...

Being a Lafayette-bred USL alum, I enjoyed and appreciated
Scott Jordan's "exposé" of Saints backup quarterback Jake Delhomme ("The
Two Jakes," Sept. 3). Jake seems to embody the best quality of south Louisiana:
the ability to embrace "joie de vivre" as a way of life while not taking yourself
(or your position in life) too seriously.

I seem to recall another famous Ragin' Cajun athlete
showing a similar side to his character in the late '70s/early '80s. Imagine
a starting major league pitcher today volunteering to move to the bullpen to
"help the team" a few years after the best (25-3) record-to-date in Major League
Baseball history (with the New York Yankees, at that!).

Is it just my imagination or are Ron Guidry and Jake
Delhomme the homegrown saviors of professional sports run amok?
--Marc
Pelletier

Tobacco Terrorists?I recently moved to
New Orleans, and all of my new colleagues and coworkers have lauded Gambit
Weekly as the premiere source of local information. I was interested to
read your stories about the memories of the 9/11 attacks ("11 Stories," Sept.
10).

However, as I began to flip through the issue, I noticed
that your publication contains advertisements for cigarettes. I am aware that
Gambit relies on advertisements for financial survival, but I wonder
if you are aware of the dangers of smoking.

According to the American Heart Association, 400,000
deaths in the United States are attributed to smoking-related illnesses; each
year, smoking kills almost as many people as live in Orleans Parish. Moreover,
smoking kills more than 100 times as many people each year as died in the 9/11
attacks. Perhaps Gambit's next act of patriotism would be to stop promoting
cigarettes so that more Americans can live. Although people don't think of smoking
as a form of terrorism, the death toll attributed to smoking greatly exceeds
that of terrorist attacks. We might consider giving smoking the bad press it
deserves.
--Jamie Griffith
Psychology Intern, VA Medical Center